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Help and advice for Norfolk Census

If you have found a problem on this page then please report it on the following form. We will then do our best to fix it. If you are wanting advice then the best place to ask is on the area's specific email lists. All the information that we have is in the web pages, so please do not ask us to supply something that is not there. We are not able to offer a research service.

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Norfolk Census

Censuses are very useful for genealogy, because they give people's names, show their families, where they lived, etc. This page provides information about what is available for Norfolk.

Some census from before 1841 survive and are listed below. Generally those taken every 10 years starting in 1841 and covering the whole of the England and Wales are the most useful. These become available to the public once a hundred years have passed. For a description of the information contained in each census from 1841 (including the Ecclesiastical Census of 1851) see the examples page. More details and articles on the census can be found on the main Genuki census pages.

Local Studies Libraries such as :-Norfolk Heritage Centre (follow links to Leisure and Culture and then Local History and Heritage) based at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library at the Forum in Norwich which has complete coverage. Their web site has links to other libraries in the county.

Each census has an index using the town or parish name as the key. This directs one to the correct point on the media (film/fiche usually) on which the census is held. Those towns known to have street indexes available (please advise me of any others which are missing) are indicated under the years topic. The layout of the enumeration districts 1851 to 1891 is based on Registration districts so adjacent parishes do not always lie next to one another on the film/fiche etc.

If the Registration District(RD) is not known then a useful finding aid is Register of towns indexed by streets for the 1841-1881 census of England and Wales (LDS 6026692)

Strays are people born in a county who are elsewhere at the time of the census. Lists and some indexes are given below (for persons born in Norfolk) where known :-

An online list of Strays from Norfolk (mainly 1851) used to be on the site maintained by Ron Taylor (anyone know where it has moved to?). These UK Census finding aids and Indexes are worth visiting. This site will have a countrywide strays index for 1851 eventually.

When each census is taken other statistics are produced and the following table shows some of these. The area of the county is given in acres and this varies as land is reclaimed from or lost to the sea and county boundaries are changed.

The tables indicate a population increase of over 60% during the 50 years between 1801 and 1851. This was followed by a 30 year period until 1881 in which it remained fairly static, after which it resumed its yearly increase, except for 1931. The number of females has always been greater than the number of males.

The whole county has been put onto a CDROM which can be purchased (it actually contains Norfolk, Devon and Warwickshire). This transcription produced by the LDS is fully searchable.

A complete transcript has been done by the LDS and is available at many FHS's. Each has a different coloured band at the top of the fiche as indicated -[in brackets following] (optionally followed by LDS catalogue no.).
This comprises 5 indexes:-

Alphabetical by surname, then christian name -[Pink](6115160).

Alphabetical by surname,then place of birth -[Green](6115161).

Alphabetical by surname,then by enumeration place -[Orange](6115162).

Numerically by Enumeration District -[Yellow](6115163).

Miscellaneous Notes (Unknown place of birth etc.)(6115164) /List of Institutions (Workhouses/Asylum's etc)(6115165) - [Brown]. There are NO separate Ships as per 1881.

Street Indexes are available for Norwich(RD234) and Kings Lynn(RD246) (typescript at Norfolk Studies Library).

A transcription of 2% of the 1851 census, containing 500,000 names, also exists for the whole country and the originals are with the ESRC (Economic & Social Research Council) at Essex. A CDROM and search engine called "2% UK 1851 Census viewer and mapper" have been produced commercially. The Norfolk sections (although not those living outside but born in the county ie. strays) have been made nearly obsolete by the indexed transcriptions on CD.

CDs containing the original enumerator's images (Census Registration Districts) are available from :-

Transcription and index online via Family Search. Follow the links (Location/United Kingdom and Ireland/England and Wales Census 1881). See also previous entry if you wish to purchase this version on CDROM.

A complete transcript and index on fiche has been done by the FFHS, SAFHS and LDS. This comprises 5 indexes:-

Alphabetical by surname, then christian name -[Pink].

Alphabetical by surname,then place of birth -[Green].

Alphabetical by surname,then by enumeration place -[Orange].

Numerically by Enumeration District -[Yellow].

Miscellaneous Notes (Unknown place of birth etc.) /List of Institutions - (c.30 Workhouses/Asylum's etc) and a List of Vessels/Ships in port -[Brown].

Street Indexes are available for Norwich(RD225) (typescript at Norfolk Studies Library).

Street Indexes are available for Norwich(RD225) (typescript at Norfolk Studies Library).

The National Archives transcription of the 1891 Norfolk Census went online in 2001 for a few months. This was a pilot for the national 1901 online transcription. This is currently offline at present and we are hoping it will re-appear at a later date.

There was a Genuki/Norfolk project to create a surname index to the Norfolk 1891 census. This is still running, despite the National Archives project (see above) and much of the county has had surnames lists produced which are online. See the Lists of Surnames from the 1891 Norfolk Census.

If you wish to order fiche through LDS Centres, you can search for LDS reference numbers in the Genuki 1891 Census Places page.
It returns "County District Sub-District Place PRO_code-piece_number LDS_Film_No" eg. for ACLE it gives "Norfolk Blofield South Walsham Acle RG12-1539 6096649".
Note this does not include every small village.

Many other libraries are purchasing fiche copies of their areas and one needs to check locally.

There is also a List of the Institutions which contains their official title and RG reference etc. Following the links for Norfolk shows that Norfolk County Asylum is RG 13 1810 f139-161 etc. [Note file covers whole country and is large 500+Kb but does not contain surnames]

CDs containing the original enumerator's images (Census Registration Districts) are available from :-